Scotland’s ‘green datacentres’ policy ignores emissions impact of AI, analysis shows | Scotland

Policy designed by the Scottish government to encourage building data centers in Scotland could lead to huge amounts of carbon emissions being ignored, according to an analysis by a Scottish charity.

“Green data centers” are at the heart of Scotland’s ambition to thrive economically. involved in national politicsThey are part of a larger UK-wide effort to attract major AI investment to Scotland.

But Scotland doesn’t seem to have a clear definition of what a “green data centre” is. This means that current AI developments can call themselves “green” but ignore their impact on the climate, according to Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), an Edinburgh-based charity.

Green MSP Ariane Burgess, who represents the Highlands and Islands, said: “We urgently need transparency around what constitutes a ‘green data centre’ and how their massive energy demands will be met by our grid infrastructure.

“The responses we have received from the Scottish government so far have not provided any clarity,” he said.

More than a dozen data centers in Scotland are in the process of gaining planning permission, including an AI growth zone in Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, which is claimed to be backed by £8.2bn of private investment.

Collectively, they will use roughly 6.2 GW of energy; This is one and a half times more than the whole of Scotland’s peak winter power usage.

In April, Fintan Slye, chief executive of the UK National Energy System Operator (Neso), encouraged data center developers Building a place in Scotland where they can benefit from a greater proportion of renewable energy with fewer grid constraints. “If you have a large data center in the audience and want to go to Scotland please come and talk to me and we will help you.” Slye said At a conference in London, according to the Financial Times.

APRS said naming a data center project as “green” and being delivered in line with Scotland’s targets could allow developers to receive favorable treatment from local authorities, even if it has significant emissions.

This year, a data center in Edinburgh appeared to claim to be a “green data centre” in applications to local authorities. Includes 200 diesel backup generators – Equivalent to 100,000 idling cars according to APRS.

There seems to be a planning committee accepted this definitionAlthough we acknowledge that there is no definition of “green data centres” in Scotland’s key policy, National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

Frame is mentioned It sees “green data centers” as part of a larger national priority and says they will have “an overall negligible impact on meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.”

APRS found that the underlying analysis used by NPF4 to reach this conclusion appears to have been conducted in 2022, before the release of ChatGPT, and has not been updated since then. At the time, analysts concluded that any increase in emissions from data center use would be offset by a reduction in emissions as people traveled less.

This does not take into account the development of artificial intelligence or the potentially huge energy consumption.

APRS director Kat Jones said: “It is quite shocking to learn that the large carbon footprint of hyperscale data centers has been completely excluded from greenhouse gas analysis for our planning framework.”

Last week, energy company representatives confirmed that more than 100 data center projects had requested gas connections, stating that they planned to burn their own energy. This is due to a years-long wait to connect to the strained National Grid.

These gas connections raise an “interesting question” for the UK’s climate targets, officials said.

A Scottish government spokesman said in a statement: “Scotland has significant strengths as a location for green data centres: abundant renewable energy, a highly skilled workforce and a resilient fiber backbone.

“Our aim is to secure commercial investment in data centres, which helps drive economic growth while aligning with Scotland’s net zero targets and benefiting communities.”